Hello,
My name is Allison; I am a first grade ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher currently working on my MS in Education with a specialization in Integrating Technology in the Classroom. The class I am currently taking is serving as my initiation into the world of blogging!
Living in southern Texas, close to the Texas-Mexico border, many native Spanish speaking students come into my classroom. I am constantly on the lookout for new and exciting technology applications, websites and tools I can use with my non native English speaking students. The purpose behind my blog is to invite you to share your ideas and experiences utilizing technology with these students while helping me with my first blog attempt. Any new ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I would like to begin by sharing a neat application I ran across on a blog I read last night. The application is called WordMagnets; it is a great way for kids to manipulate text on interactive white boards. For more information on this tool, visit Nik’s blog at http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2009/10/revising-short-texts-and-syntax-on-iwb.html . His blog includes a link to the application, description of the apllication and a video showing how to use it. Thanks, Nik!

I used the application today in my classroom, it was a hit. Instead of simply writing a morning message, my students had to unscramble a previously written message. Engagement was significantly increased!